Congressman Bill Huizenga encouraged after Afghanistan visit, but disagrees with President Obama on one point

Courtesy photoU.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga, in blue shirt, meets with U.S. soldiers and military advisers in Afghanistan

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga says he's encouraged by the progress he saw during a long weekend trip to Afghanistan.

But the Zeeland Republican says he's not sure the U.S. should set a hard date for pulling out of the nation where it has been fighting the Taliban and Al-Quaida for more than 10 years.

“We've come a fair ways in Afghanistan, we've got a long ways to go,” said Huizenga in a telephone interview from his Washington office Tuesday.

Huizenga left Washington late last Friday and arrived in the Afghani capital of Kabul early Saturday.

He was part of a congressional delegation that visited command centers in the Helmund Province and the Kandahar Province, where they spent Sunday night because of snow in Kabul. He arrived back in Washington on Monday evening.

Meeting with the troops, local government officials and security forces from other nations, Huizenga said he felt better about the future in Afghanistan than he did about Iraq in a previous visit.

“They are eager to get into the lead and lead the operations and want to see the U.S. and coalition forces in more of a support role,” he said. “In Iraq, they really had to push the Iraqis out to the front and tell them, 'We need you to take the lead on this.'”

Bill Huizenga

Huizenga said the Afghans should be able to take control of their country and keep the Taliban at bay if they are properly trained before the U.S. pulls out.

But Huizenga said he was reluctant to embrace the 2014 deadline for troop withdrawal set by President Barack Obama. “I'm uncomfortable declaring these time lines two or three years in advance,” he said.

Huizenga was part of a congressional delegation that included U.S. Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska and U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Oregon.